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Those two?

Are they breaking up?

I didn’t care. I would never see these people again.

She stepped close, venom written across every one of her features.

“Yes, I do want to bet. One just for the man who’s too fucking good for this town. I bet that you’ll go out there and find whatever the fuck you’re looking for.” She poked her finger into my chest. “And I bet you’ll see that it fucking sucks, Gabriel.”

Jade using my full name made a mix of misery and anger flood my chest. I always wanted to be Gabe to her. Never Gabriel.

But did it even matter anymore?

“You’ll lose.”

“I’ll win. And when I do, I want you to live with it. Stay out there. Never come back. I don’t want to ever look at you again.”

1

JADE

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Kerry Winsor: Did anyone else see the beautiful sunset this evening? I couldn’t look away!

Comments:

SherriffMike Finch: Is that why you drove into the ditch?

Kerry Winsor: I didn’t drive into it! I pulled over to watch the sunset! Geez!!! Can’t we be normal for once and talk about the sky???

Jade Clark: Oh, Kerry. When are you gonna realize this is Strawberry Springs? We are NEVER normal about anything.

My character sat at a bus stop, waiting for it to arrive. I stared at the screen for a long time before quitting the game.

It had been far too long for me to be still doing this.

The loading screen to Gabriel’s game taunted me, and I stabbed at the remote to turn off the TV as well.

I’d played this a hundred times, but it always ended the same way. Every player had a choice: to stay in the small town or go to the city, where there were far more things to do. There were no advantages to staying. Gabriel made sure of that.

I stayed anyway.

And I kept playing.

“This is the last time,” I muttered to myself.

That would prove to be a lie.

Still, I’d tell myself it was true. I’d tell myself that the perfect man was waiting for me, and I’d forget all about the one who left.

I was over thirty years old, and I was still waiting.

My apartment was a mess, just like it always was when I would find myself deep in a playthrough of Sprout Creek.

His game had taken the world by storm. Millions of copies were sold, all because of the layers he put into the game. No playthrough was the same, and everyone loved all the twists and turns, especially in the city.

He’d made something of himself; that was for sure.